The way to have evidences increased, is to have faith increased; and the way to have faith increased, is not by looking into ourselves, who are the subjects of faith, but out of ourselves to Christ, who is the object of faith.
Faith is the mainspring and regulator of all the graces; our joy, our love, our hope, will all be in proportion to our faith; and our faith can never be strengthened by an anxious and constant poring over the feelings of our hearts.
Nor can our faith be strengthened merely by determining to be strong in faith; but by an intelligent and increasingly clear view of the person and work of Christ.
“How long,” said David, “shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?” (Ps. 13:2). He tells us almost immediately after how he got rid of his grief, even by looking away from himself, to God: “I have trusted in thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation” (Ps. 13:5).
Doubting, dejected, and anxious sinner, you have been reading, thinking, hearing, praying, striving, examining, consulting books of evidences, and lists of marks of salvation, inquiring of others how they feel, and what they conclude to be evidence of a work of grace, and yet you are as far from any satisfactory conclusion, as to your state, as ever; like the beast in the mire, all your striving seems but to sink you deeper and deeper. Now then take another plan, since your own has failed, and instead of troubling yourself about evidences,
look to Christ: keep your eye fixed on him; meditate upon the Divinity of his person; the sufficiency of his atonement; the perfection of his righteousness; the riches of his grace; the universality of his invitations.
Look at the object of faith, the grounds of faith, the warrant of faith; the more you do this, the stronger your faith will become; and the stronger your faith is, the greater your peace will be.
Instead of labouring to love Christ, and becoming dejected that you do not love him more, take another course, and dwell upon the love of Christ to you.
Meditate on his amazing grace, his most wonderful compassion, not only to the world in general, but to you, as part of the world; labour and pray to be “able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Eph. 3:18-19). This, this is the way to grow in love to him, for if we love him, it is because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).
It is a great principle which I am anxious to impress upon you, that subjective religion, or, in other words, religion in us, is produced and sustained by fixing the mind on objective religion, or the facts and doctrines of the word of God.
Neither evidences nor comfort should be sought directly, or on their own account, or as separate things, but as the result of faith. Take this as an important sentiment, that the subject of evidences belongs more to the believer than to the inquirer; to the Christian, who professes to be already in the way, and not to the anxious seeker after the way.
John Angell James. The Anxious Inquirer.
